


Splash

by pylador19



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Cheesy, Fluff, For something as simple as swimming, M/M, SO MUCH FLUFF, Why?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-06
Updated: 2016-04-06
Packaged: 2018-05-31 17:39:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6480238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pylador19/pseuds/pylador19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Armin teaches Eren how to swim</p>
            </blockquote>





	Splash

**Author's Note:**

> Like seriously this is proper ridiculous and sappy and probably doesn't make a lot of sense, but I thought it was a cute little idea for once and decided to just write it all out and share. For the most part I was very sleep deprived in writing this which may explain why I had the idea in the first place... but yeah... enjoy the fluff and sap.

"It's easy Eren. It's all about the kick"

It's way past curfew and whilst other members of the Survey Corps are catching up on some much needed sleep, Eren- alongside Armin- was at a nearby lake, splashing about and trying to regain his breath. It had been about the third time that night that Armin had let go of his hands and instead of staying afloat, he had sunk right to the bottom.

"That's easy for you to say. You managed to get this straight away"

Significant advances made on the part of the Survey Corps had meant that a significant amount of new territory had been gained in the last year alone. New territory of course meant challenges; the combined brilliance of Hanji and Armin meant that a wall not consisting of immobilised Titans was constructed in next to no time, and whilst hesitant at first, citizens had slowly began to move into the newly required land- hopefully helping to gradually ease the strain put on housing and food supplies.

What was unique about the new territory was that it was abundant with lakes and rivers, far more than what humanity had access to in the main construction of the three walls. Whilst the presence of the these features meant that they could be used t fascilitate humanity behind the walls, it also posed new challenges for the Survey Corps. The more of the rivers and lakes that there were, the closer they could possibly be to the ocean. This meant new environments that they would possibly have to tackle, have to engage Titans in. Training near the lakes and rivers took place immediately after the wall went up. Sometimes excavations took place to nearby waterfalls and practices would be done there. Adapting the manoeuvre gear to the new environment was easy enough, but a critical flaw was quickly discovered: that over half the squad didn't know how to swim.

After an incident whereby Connie had slipped and fallen into the water and Sasha was the only one able to help him out, it quickly became apparent that whilst the Survey Corps were prepared in some aspects of their new environment, they were seriously underprepared in other environments. Sure there were rivers running throughout the entirety of humanity's land within the walls, but with those rivers being used as the main water supply, most of the corps could be forgiven for not wanting to even go and dip their feet in and then live with the nagging feeling they could possibly drink that same water somewhere down the line.

Almost immediately after the incident, Erwin ordered that those who couldn't had to learn how to swim. Fast.

Being the perfect soldier she always was, of course Mikasa was one of the first to pick up swimming pretty easily. She, alongside Sasha, had helped to teach Jean and Connie and whilst Armin struggled initially, he too was able to pick it up fairly quickly. Eren however wasn't so lucky. Every time Mikasa had let go of his hands, he would just go underwater straight away, even the amount of kicking in his legs and the strokes of his arms did nothing and he soon shot up gasping for air.

"Don't worry about it too much Eren, you'll get it eventually"

Except Eren _did_ worry about it. In fact he was almost embarrassed by the situation. The only one in the Survey Corps capable of transforming into a Titan and he couldn't master something as simple as swimming? It reminded him of his time as a trainee and he couldn't work the damn manoeuvre gear. Sure, it turned out it was faulty in the end, but at least he could still do it!

Determined not to be the last one again, once he was sure that everybody else was asleep, he had set out on his own back to the nearby lake. Eren thought he would be the only one, yet after bumping into Armin who was having trouble getting to sleep, he soon had his friend tagging along to try and give a helping hand.

 

 

"Swimming on your back is so much easier" Eren comments, Armin watching with a smile on his face as Eren float around him on his back

"It may be the easiest, but it's not the quickest if you're thrown into a situation and you'll need to swim to get away" he replies, holding out his hands for Eren to take.

Once again Eren takes his hands and lets Armin help to keep him afloat until he's ready to start again and tells Armin to let go. Once Armin does, Eren starts kicking his legs and moving his arms like he's been taught, but in no time he's sinking again and having Armin pull him back up to the surface.

"Dammit!" Eren shouts, slamming his fist against the surface of the water "Why can't I do this?"

"Eren calm down. You're only getting yourself worked up" Armin replies as Eren runs a hand through his hair and lets out a frustrated groan

"Why can't I do this? It shouldn't be _this_ hard! I can turn into a Titan for crying out loud!" he exclaims

"Not everybody gets it the first time Eren, it'll just take practice" Armin tries but knows that Eren is beyond the point of listening right now. He just needs some time out to calm down before he gets too frustrated and in his mood cuts himself on something. There would be nothing worse than having to explain to a very pissed Levi and a very concerned Erwin as to why there was a Titan currently sat in the lake.

"I will get this!" Eren says "Come on, we'll try it again"

Eren holds out his hands for Armin to take so that he can start practicing again. Instead of taking his hands though, Armin shakes his head and turns to swim out into the middle of the lake.

“Armin! What are you doing? Come back here!” Eren shouts after him, watching in frustration as his friend swims away and he can’t go after him

“I thought we could try something new” Armin calls back as he stops and turns to face Eren “Holding you afloat is not getting us anywhere, so instead why don’t you just swim out to me?”

“… The whole point of this is that I _can’t_ swim” Eren says “How do you expect me to come to you?”

“Just kick yourself off from the side. The momentum will carry you forward and when you slow down, start swimming then” Armin explains, still waiting for him in the middle of the lake.

Eren’s is hesitant. Of course he’s hesitant. He couldn’t even stay afloat when having someone hold his hands, so how was he going to do this? It would be ironic really if Eren- a Titan shifter- had died not from a battle wound, but because he couldn’t swim.

“Eren”

He’s snapped out of his thoughts by Armin calling his name. It’s gentler this time and when Eren looks up, Armin is smiling at him, waiting patiently for Eren to join him. Taking a deep breath in, Eren moves closer to the edge of the lake until he’s in more shallow water, finally kicking himself away like Armin had told him to.

As expected, the momentum allows him to float on the surface of the water and even without having to swim, he’s already a little bit closer to Armin. When he begins to slow down he starts to kick and for a second he thinks he’s going to sink like he usually does. This time he’s in slightly deeper waters

It’s messy and is more like a frantic splashing of arms and legs, but this time Eren stays afloat and the more he moves, the better his strokes become, and he finally seems to master it as he gets closer and closer to Armin, seeing the latter’s eyes widen and his smile widen as well.

“You did it Eren!” he cheers, catching his friend before he collided into him, Eren laughing in disbelief

“It actually worked!” he says as Armin rolls his eyes

“Of course it worked, _I_ was the one who thought of it after all” he jokes “Not bad for somebody who is as impatient as you are”

Instead of replying with a snarky comment himself, Eren instead opts to splash Armin, making the other shout out in shock before he splashes Eren back. A water fight soon starts and all that can be heard is the laughter and shouting of the two as Armin tries to swim away from Eren, but the other with his newly acquired skill instantly chases after him. They continue their fight until Eren has Armin trapped between him and the bank of the lake.

Even after they’ve calmed down, they’re still in the same position. The lakes not exactly at its warmest in the middle of the night and if they don’t get out soon they’re bound to catch a cold, but neither of them are in any rush to get out.

“This time next year we could be staring right at the ocean” Armin finally says

“How much salt water do you reckon we could drink before Levi finds out?” Eren asks

“I’d rather just skip that completely than put my life at risk” Armin replies and both of them laugh before falling back into the comfortable silence.

Eren finally drops his arms that had been caging Armin in as he drops his gaze to the water and smiles.

“We should get going back” he says “If we don’t get any sleep we’ll suffer for it by tomorrow afternoon”

Eren helps Armin out of lake before getting out himself. Now that they’re out of the water, the night chill finally hits and they both begin to shiver. Yep, they were probably going to catch a cold at some point, but Eren doesn’t regret it one bit.

“Everybody’s going to be so surprised when they see you suddenly swimming like an expert” Armin points out

“Let’s not tell them you taught me. I’ll convince them I hadn’t come out for late night practices and make up something spectacular”

“I’m just waiting to see Jean’s reaction” Armin adds, smiling gratefully when Eren wraps his towel around him and the two slowly make their way back…

 

**Author's Note:**

> If there turns out to already be something existing somewhere proving that Eren can already swim, just think of this as a cute little fic showing the opposite of him being hoplessly horrific and then overcoming his struggles and being the perfect swimmer!


End file.
